Even as Google counts some 1 billon monthly active users for Android worldwide, more than six out of every ten page views from a mobile device in the U.S. still come from an iPhone, an iPad, or an iPod touch, according to new browsing data released on Monday.

Apple's share of the U.S. mobile browsing market is off just 4.1 percentage points from its high last July -- down from 64.4 percent to 60.3 percent -- and is nearly flat year-over-year. Google's Android, meanwhile, ticked up by 4.5 percentage points to 33.4 percent over the same period.

The data was collected by audience measurement firm Quantcast and released in a Monday afternoon note to investors from Pipar Jaffray analyst Gene Munster, a copy of which was provided to AppleInsider. Quantcast sampled around 1 billion mobile page views to arrive at the share data, which Munster equates to approximately 1.5 percent of the viewing market.

Munster put forward a number of hypotheses for iOS's continued superiority, beginning with the iPhone's position as the most popular smartphone at major wireless carriers AT&T and Verizon. He also believes that iOS users are likely to be "more engaged with their phones on a daily basis" than their Android counterparts and that the iPad contributes a proportionally larger amount of traffic than Android tablets.

As they battle between themselves, Apple and Google are also slowly pushing out other operating systems. Though the data was not broken out in detail, it is likely that much of the 4.6-percentage point drop over the last year can be attributed to lackluster sales of Windows Phone-based devices and handsets from beleaguered Canadian smartphone maker BlackBerry.

One billion Android smartphones is worldwide while the quoted browsing figures are US only. It confuses some readers when both markets are mixed in an apples-oranges comparison within the same article, even within the same sentence.

EDIT: Nice to see the author make a change to the first sentence. It's now a little clearer. Kudos!Edited by Gatorguy - 7/7/14 at 12:53pm

They are literally giving-away Android junk phones. As far as I'm concerned, it's just market-dumping.

What I find hard to understand is why the Android fanboys just flat-out refuse to believe studies like these. Most consumers for Android devices are cost-concious, folks that most likely have limited phone plans. I certainly believe - from my own personal experience only - that many Android users are just so technically inept, they use their Android phones really as a glorified feature phones. They really have no clue. To them, the Internet is really a giant cloud of unknown.

These numbers are still staggering! iOS has almost double the mobile web browsing share when compared to all of Android in the US! That's every Android phone combined! We're talking about hundreds and hundreds of different phones, of all shapes and sizes, one big fragmented mess!

There are a number of reasons for these numbers, and these are some that I can think of, all of which contribute to Apple's amazing dominance over Android.

(1) Many Android phones are not used as smart phones at all. The users might as well have a dummy phone.

(2) Android people are less productive and they access the web less than iOS users. iOS is more for professional users, and broke teenagers are more likely to be using a crummy Android phone.

(3) Android people are poorer, they don't have as much money to spend, they shop less online, and when they do, they spend less. If somebody is flat broke, there's no sense in shopping online. They also can't afford to have any pricey data plans, so it's understandable that they would access the web less often.

(4) Android people are cheaper, so paying for something like WIFI on a flight is beyond the reasonable limits that the average Android user can be expected to spend. You can not surf the web if you are not connected to the internet.

(5) Browsing the web is far more pleasing and enjoyable on iOS devices than on Android.

In conclusion, these numbers tell us that Apple devices get used, and get used a lot. Most people love their Apple devices. It also tells us that Android phones are not that useful.

As they battle between themselves, Apple and Google are also slowly pushing out other operating systems. Though the data was not broken out in detail, it is likely that much of the 4.6-percentage point drop over the last year can be attributed to lackluster sales of Windows Phone-based devices and handsets from beleaguered Canadian smartphone maker BlackBerry.

To call Windows Phone-based devices "lackluster" is being very kind. Microsoft's new management is busy digging a new grave out beside the one holding $900 million of Surface RTs. Speculation is still rife over whether there will be a daytime funeral march to the grave site or a moonless nighttime shuffle...

BlackBerry needs to change their name to "Beleaguered." Imagine the amount of virtual ink that would save!

"That (the) world is moving so quickly that iOS is already amongst the older mobile operating systems in active development today." — The Verge

Windows Phone is pooched, BlackBerry is nil and Tizen is likely to have a tough time gaining traction. It appears Android and iOS are going to the leading mobile OSes for years to come. It doesn't seem likely iOS will gain market share on Android unless Apple wearable devices get included. Android is going to be able to be run on so many devices the numbers will be simply astounding.

Why would most Android phones not have the capability of using the web?

Let's see:

1. Android SmartTV's and Blueray players are generally not hooked up to anything, so no internet, and even those that are, ever try using the internet with a remote, gamepad or wiimote? It's an irritating experience to say the least.
2. ISP's put their junk Android phones on the "feature phone" service tier, thus it costs 5 cents a kilobyte to use the data, so it's disabled.
3. Android phones are frequently the only option for 7-11 Speakout and similar pay-as-you-go, and these do not include data either.
4. ISP's push the inferior Android phones because they are more profitable, and people who buy them don't realize they can do anything but phone/text message on them.

As a point of reference, almost nobody I know owns Android devices, and those that do generally hate them and would rather use their Windows or Macintosh desktop/laptop to do internet things. Holding a device in your hands gets tiring.

As for my personal point of view, the stats I've been tracking for years generally say specific Android device use is not significant (any one device may have less than 3% of mobile) but when you add them all up, there is an even iOS/Android split, but that is tracking everything that is "iOS" and everything that is "Android" not just phones. Android is in a lot more things, yet only an amount equal to iOS is being used at all.

When you break it out by device, the most popular devices aren't even new ones. The most popular individual Android device is the Nexus 7.

But do note that Google Analytics makes no attempt to determine which model of iPhone is used while the Android devices easily have multiple versions with different model numbers as different lines.

Going just by branding alone, Apple is around 50% while Samsung is 20% and anything else is a single digit %.

These numbers are still staggering! iOS has almost double the mobile web browsing share when compared to all of Android in the US! That's every Android phone combined! We're talking about hundreds and hundreds of different phones, of all shapes and sizes, one big fragmented mess!

There are a number of reasons for these numbers, and these are some that I can think of, all of which contribute to Apple's amazing dominance over Android.

(1) Many Android phones are not used as smart phones at all. The users might as well have a dummy phone.

(2) Android people are less productive and they access the web less than iOS users. iOS is more for professional users, and broke teenagers are more likely to be using a crummy Android phone.

(3) Android people are poorer, they don't have as much money to spend, they shop less online, and when they do, they spend less. If somebody is flat broke, there's no sense in shopping online. They also can't afford to have any pricey data plans, so it's understandable that they would access the web less often.

(4) Android people are cheaper, so paying for something like WIFI on a flight is beyond the reasonable limits that the average Android user can be expected to spend. You can not surf the web if you are not connected to the internet.

(5) Browsing the web is far more pleasing and enjoyable on iOS devices than on Android.

In conclusion, these numbers tell us that Apple devices get used, and get used a lot. Most people love their Apple devices. It also tells us that Android phones are not that useful.

Wow, do you actually believe what you are saying, absolute malarkey. I can afford to buy any smartphone that I wish. However, I choose to use a Nokia 1020 and Nexus 5 because I find their experience more suited to me needs, that's it. Just because a person enjoys using another platform doesn't make them any less worthy, poor, unintelligent or some other silly negative adjective. Really, who cares as long as the device does what you need it to do, holly Moses people are just way too passionate about their inanimate object of choice.

Edited by Relic - 7/7/14 at 4:29pm

When I looked up "Ninjas" in Thesaurus.com, it said "Ninja's can't be found" Well played Ninjas, well played.

Good for you! You should consider yourself lucky, because you are not the average Android user, and your one person anecdote does not trump the studies and statistics that I constantly read, which consists of a far greater number of people. One person does not represent Android users.

And I can definitely conclude that Android people are poorer, because I am a believer in facts and science. As a matter of fact, in many cases, the poorer the country, the more likely that Android will have a greater foothold in said country. I've seen the maps and charts.

1. Android SmartTV's and Blueray players are generally not hooked up to anything, so no internet, and even those that are, ever try using the internet with a remote, gamepad or wiimote? It's an irritating experience to say the least.
2. ISP's put their junk Android phones on the "feature phone" service tier, thus it costs 5 cents a kilobyte to use the data, so it's disabled.
3. Android phones are frequently the only option for 7-11 Speakout and similar pay-as-you-go, and these do not include data either.
4. ISP's push the inferior Android phones because they are more profitable, and people who buy them don't realize they can do anything but phone/text message on them..

1. A few million at best?
2. ISP's talk buyers out of data plans? Not that I've ever heard of.
3. Even pay-as-you-go plans here in the US include data. Not sure about other countries.
4. Not using web services out of choice or ignorance does not mean the smartphone you purchased isn't capable of doing so.

So what evidence do you really have that most Android phones aren't capable of accessing the web which is the claim Maestro made? That would be none at all sir as far as I can tell. If buyers aren't using web services it's not because their Android phone cannot.

By the way has anyone looked at worldwide usage numbers? Despite Apple's significant lead in tablet usage and US numbers favoring iOS Android and iOS are essentially neck and neck in web traffic worldwide:

"Although Piper Jaffray’s Quantcast data showed that Apple’s iOS has a stable lead in the mobile web browsing traffic market in the U.S., other market research firm’s studies indicate that Android may soon overtake iOS in worldwide mobile web traffic share. According to data from Net Applications, Android’s share of the global web traffic market has been steadily climbing over the past several months. While Apple’s iOS still led with a 45.6 percent share last month, Android is not far behind with a 43.75 percent share. Also, unlike in the U.S. market, Android’s rise appears to be coming at the expense of iOS. As seen in the chart above, the worldwide market share for iOS has slipped from 53.3 percent in March to 45.6 percent last month."http://wallstcheatsheet.com/technology/apples-ios-keeps-web-traffic-lead-in-u-s-amid-global-android-threat.html/?a=viewall

I'll agree that Apple mobile devices tend to be used with higher-priced plans that allow for more data while Android phones are more available to the "everyman" who may (or may not) have a more restrictive budget. It does not mean the Android smartphone he bought is less capable of browsing the web if he wishes to.Edited by Gatorguy - 7/8/14 at 8:30am

I don't know if I represent many Android users, but my internet usage dropped substantially from iPhone to Android. I used to look up most everything on the web on my iPhone. Mostly stocks, weather, and news. Weather I think I had an App, but since you had to go home and then go to the App I'd just use the web half the time.

80% of what I do on my phone now is just turn it on and look at it. Widgets have my news, stocks, and weather automatically updated already, so I literally just turn my phone on and look at it.

I never shopped on either my iPhone or Android. Most anything I want can wait till I get home and I prefer shopping from a PC.

Assuming the iPhone 6 has decent enough widgets, it should be interesting to see if the 'staple browsing' people do is converted to widgets.

Let's add the part that includes the worldwide figures, shall we? I realize AI only likes to talk about the one of 3 bright spots for Apple in the entire world (namely the US, Japan and UK), but let's get a realistic look at the numbers and not leave out info (as AI did.)

I quote from the same report:

Chart of worldwide data:

"Although Piper Jaffray%u2019s Quantcast data showed that Apple%u2019s iOS has a stable lead in the mobile web browsing traffic market in the U.S., other market research firm%u2019s studies indicate that Android may soon overtake iOS in worldwide mobile web traffic share. According to data from Net Applications, Android%u2019s share of the global web traffic market has been steadily climbing over the past several months. While Apple%u2019s iOS still led with a 45.6 percent share last month, Android is not far behind with a 43.75 percent share. Also, unlike in the U.S. market, Android%u2019s rise appears to be coming at the expense of iOS. As seen in the chart above, the worldwide market share for iOS has slipped from 53.3 percent in March to 45.6 percent last month."

Not such a rosy picture as AI likes to paint. Point is, as people upgrade their Android devices to smartphones capable of web browsing en masse in places like China and India, the percentage of web traffic via Android devices grows exponentially.

Let's add the part that includes the worldwide figures, shall we? I realize AI only likes to talk about the one of 3 bright spots for Apple in the entire world (namely the US, Japan and UK), but let's get a realistic look at the numbers and not leave out info (as AI did.)

I quote from the same report:

Chart of worldwide data:

"Although Piper Jaffray%u2019s Quantcast data showed that Apple%u2019s iOS has a stable lead in the mobile web browsing traffic market in the U.S., other market research firm%u2019s studies indicate that Android may soon overtake iOS in worldwide mobile web traffic share. According to data from Net Applications, Android%u2019s share of the global web traffic market has been steadily climbing over the past several months. While Apple%u2019s iOS still led with a 45.6 percent share last month, Android is not far behind with a 43.75 percent share. Also, unlike in the U.S. market, Android%u2019s rise appears to be coming at the expense of iOS. As seen in the chart above, the worldwide market share for iOS has slipped from 53.3 percent in March to 45.6 percent last month."

Not such a rosy picture as AI likes to paint. Point is, as people upgrade their Android devices to smartphones capable of web browsing en masse in places like China and India, the percentage of web traffic via Android devices grows exponentially.

Now over lay profits for the respective companies. Then look up sustainability.

From Apple ][ - to new Mac Pro I've owned them all.Long on AAPL so biased"Google doesn't sell you anything, Google just sells you!"

Why would most Android phones not have the capability of using the web?

did not say phones, I said devices, thus all the video terminals and streaming device being sold with Andriod install we now know those numbers are also include in the numbers google has been reporting as well as low end phone which do not have data plans.

did not say phones, I said devices, thus all the video terminals and streaming device being sold with Andriod install we now know those numbers are also include in the numbers google has been reporting as well as low end phone which do not have data plans.

The second reason is that Android devices have a greater variety of form factors, especially larger screens. This makes more sense as users would be less frustrated with a larger screen on Android smartphones and phablets vs. Apple’s offerings.

Misa, I agree with most all of your very perceptive synopsis and would add even the "real" android smartphone sales levels are unsustainable. Many (nearly all) android phone are pushed via 2 for 1's special deals or spiffs (direct payment from manufacturers to sales people) This sort of surge just isn't sustainable as witnessed by the lack of profit for all android phone manufacturers. Samsung is the only Android OEM making anything on phones (and that required rapid growth which (seeing as they have taken 90% of the androids market) just isn't possible at this point (again look at -current- samsung android phone profits: falling like a stone and that isn't likely to improve)

My guess is 30-40% real marketshare (as indicated by browser share) will likely be androids high water mark. Which I personally think is a good thing, I would hate to ever see android dominate as it would bring a decade of almost complete stagnation (like windows did) The market is much better served by apple dominating and a handful of also ran's giving the apple haters an alternative. ;-)